Jerry Tyson
Jerry Tyson aka The Triple Killer, or "3XK", is a serial killer whose M.O. is killing three blonde women in a week by strangulation and leaving them laying dead in their own apartments in the funeral position that made them look like they were sleeping (with the hands clasped in front of them), laying low for a month, then killing again. Background Apparently, as a child, Jerry Tyson was raised by a single mother: a beautiful blonde who later never wanted him and eventually died. Bitter for being sent into bad foster care, he ends up becoming a serial killer by killing women who look like her as a way of 'getting back at her'. Despite this though, he still loves his mother and, as a homage to her, leaves his victims looking peaceful. Although this is merely speculation by Richard Castle and not confirmed by Jerry himself, he does not deny it either. It was noted on his FBI profile, though, that he did have a dysfunctional relationship with his mother. He began his killing spree in 2006 by claiming six lives. He learns the habits of his victims and gains their trust through different disguises, such as a security guard or cable repairman, to gain access to their apartments. Captain Montgomery was on the original task force to capture him. On May 21, 2006, a week after his sixth murder, Linda Russo called the triple killer tip line and left an anonymous message, to report seeing a creepy cable repairman who wasn't carrying the right tools. given that Linda was working for a cable company, she realized he was in disguise. With this, Jerry realized that she made him and that she saw his face, so he arranged for himself to get caught on a minor drug charge to throw suspicion off himself. While imprisoned, he met a fellow sociopath named Marcus Gates and spent the next four years as cellmates exchanging stories. He later makes a deal with Marcus so that he will be completely free of suspicion: when Marcus is released, he will pretend to be the Triple Killer by using Jerry's M.O., and in return, Jerry will pay for the heart operation of Marcus's foster brother, Paul McCradle. Season Three After the arrangement is made, Marcus begins his killing spree by first killing the one person that can identify Jerry as a person of interest: Linda Russo. Since Linda would have recognized the real triple killer, Jerry arranges for Marcus to change his M.O. on Linda by killing her outside, contrary to his usual apartment killings. This is to make the investigators believe that he killed her outside since, if he recognizes Jerry, she would not have let him into her apartment. Marcus' next killing is one that follows in Jerry's footsteps perfectly, and even leaves a small piece of evidence to get the police interested in him. Beckett eventually goes to question Jerry in prison, unaware that he is the real Triple Killer, to ask where Marcus would hang out. Jerry tells them that Marcus liked to hang out at a bar. The team assembles there and Marcus comes out. They arrest him and bring him in for questioning at the station. Beckett starts to interview Marcus and he is very calm and unconcerned with everything she is asking. She shows pictures of the victims and he denies knowing any of them. She tells Marcus that they are searching his home and he should tell her if they are going to find any suspicious. He says that he will wait until they can prove it with a warrant. However, they do not have enough to hold him and Marcus walks right out the front door and tells the team to watch over their loved ones. Back in prison, Jerry rolls on Marcus and makes a deal. They get him out of prison and Ryan sits with Jerry, who, still playing the wimp, asks why they can't arrest Marcus already. Jerry mentions that Marcus has a partner. This leads them to find out that Paul McCardle is the partner. They track down Donna, Jerry's girlfriend, and Beckett tells Esposito to go to her quickly. Inside he finds Marcus trying to kill Donna. Esposito asks him how he is going to get out of this one. At the station, Marcus confesses to all eight murders, when he actually only killed two, in exchange for Paul to get full immunity. Later, Castle and Ryan go to where Jerry is staying and tell him about Marcus' confession and his arrest. Castle picks up on Jerry's reaction when he reacts coldly about his girlfriend being okay, and eventually realizes that he's the real killer. But before he and Ryan can react, he knocks them out and ties them both up and steals Ryan's gun. Jerry makes his escape and leaves Castle and Ryan for the police to find after he tells Castle that his future victims are going to be Castle's fault. ("3XK") Season Four After this he gave an enemy of his, who he made during his four years in prison, Philip Lee, Ryan's stolen gun, knowing that the ballistic will be an instant hit on police computers, and trusting that this will take the cops off on a wild goose chase, since they will (and do) assume that it is 3XK still using the gun. He likewise "let slip" his plans to Philip, on the assumption that Philip would try to cut a deal and pass the info on to the cops, but this is a bluff which the poker-playing Castle sees coming, and Philip's offer of information is declined and he gets no deal. ("Kick the Ballistics") Season Five Tyson returns in the fifth season seemingly to get revenge on Castle for ruining his four-year plan to vanish and continue killing. It is mentioned that he has had Castle under surveillance, even going as far as being able to enter his loft with no trace to obtain fingerprints. He planted Castle's fingerprints at the murder scene of Tessa Horton using latex fingers and placed a deleted file in his hard drive that perfectly describes the murder. He also staged a look-alike contest to hire someone to impersonate Castle in a jewelry store to be caught on surveillance. The diamond earring purchased at the store was later found in the victim's apartment. The final stroke was planting the exact tools used in restraining and killing Horton in Castle's loft. He was able to infiltrate the precinct to reveal himself to a detained Castle without being caught on surveillance. Jerry states that he has people waiting for Castle in prison, assigned to kill him when he arrives. Castle later escapes as a fugitive and with Beckett and the team's help was able to find proof of 3XK's involvement. As Beckett and Castle drive back to the precinct they are attacked by Tyson on the bridge. While he holds Beckett at gunpoint, urging Castle to reveal himself and watch as he kills her, Castle manages to shoot Tyson several times and the latter ends up falling off the bridge to his apparent death. The body cannot be found the next morning and Castle deduces that 3XK's entire plan was to have Castle seemingly kill him on the bridge and then disappear, free to kill again. ("Probable Cause") Season 6 In episode 9 of season 6, ("Disciple"), a murderer is killing victims that have frightening resemblance to the members of the NYPD. It is later revealed that the victims have been altered, both medically, and through the help of speech therapy to alter the male victim's accent, in order to look and sound like Lanie and Esposito. As expected, this affects the whole team, mainly Lanie and Esposito, the episode's flow bearing striking resemblence to season 5's Probable Cause. As Castle begins to theorise the possibility of 3XK being a part of this, Beckett and Castle go to get the records only to find the files of every 3XK murder and profile removed, taken out by 'Esposito' three days ago, and the medical results, tissues, samples and other such items removed by 'Lanie'. Because an infiltration of the NYPD is a serious issue, as well as the fact that 3XK might actually be alive, opposed to the NYPD records, Gates instructs Beckett not to make it official that 3XK is back until she has solid evidence to save the precinct from the embarrasment of stuffing up twice. It is not until the end of the episode when, after recovering a USB embedded in a pen, that an eerie song message is played through Castle's laptop, confirming any doubts that Beckett had that Jerry Tyson, aka 3XK is, in fact back. Victims (All of his victims were strangled in their own apartment.) * Rachel Gold * Sara Townsend * Emma Kuener * Lauren Brackett * Sheri Ort * Melanie Sherman * Tessa Horton (Atypical MO; not a blonde, and she was hung from the ceiling and her head carved with an alchemical symbol. This was part of a complex attempt to frame Castle for the murder.) * Kate Beckett (Attempted to kill while being held hostage; Tyson was shot by Castle before he could) Victims by Proxy The following were either targeted by Marcus Gates, orders given by Jerry or killed because of circumstances arranged by Tyson * Linda Russo (Strangled by Marcus in an alleyway) * Kim Foster (Strangled by Marcus in her own apartment) * Donna Gallager (Marcus attempted to strangle in her own apartment; was rescued) * Jane Herzfeld (Shot to death by Philip Lee with the gun given to him by Tyson) Tyson, Jerry Tyson, Jerry Tyson, Jerry Tyson, Jerry Tyson, Jerry Tyson, Jerry Tyson, Jerry Category:Serial Killers